Midtown Lunch

The rumor I reported last week has now been confirmed via Twitter, and re-confirmed on their website:  The “Steak and Egg” burger has been restored to the menu at all Goodburger locations starting today.  When I originally launched the Midtown Lunch Sandwich Challenge back in January, I told restaurants they could pretty much do whatever they wanted… but I did have a few special requests.  First was that somebody do a grease truck sandwich, and second was that Goodburger bring back their formerly breakfast only “Steak & Egg” burger, featuring a burger topped with home fries and a fried egg.  See, Goodburger used to serve breakfast- but when they stopped doing that, the “Steak & Egg” went away.

Nobody has answered the call for a grease truck sandwich- but Goodburger has finally listened to the pleading from the Midtown Lunchers, and brought back the “Steak & Egg”!  Do you want to see it? (Of course you do…)

Steak and egg porn is after the jump…

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I don’t know the exact history of Six-0 Catering on 39th btw. 5+6th, but it has been around for as long as I can recall.  In fact, I still remember the first time I walked by the place, and was intrigued by its sign touting Mexican food- from an American looking catering place.  It was a complete dump, and the day I walked in was practically empty- save for the one guy behind the counter who told me “we have no burritos today.”  Since then, Six-0 has undergone a massive transformation (both physically and existentially.)  Before they seemed like catering company, that happened to serve lunch food if you hit them on the right day.  Now, under their new name Madeline’s, they seem like a Midtown lunch place that also happens to do catering.  And I was kind of surprised at how good and cheap all the food was.

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Based on this write up by James over at the blog The Eaten Path, the Green Leaf Deli (on Park Ave. btw. 34+35th) sounds like your typical, generic Midtown deli, save for one thing: their amazing home made pepper sauce.  “The steam tray lunch options at Green Leaf, a mostly mediocre offering of curries and stews over rice, are nowhere near the pepper sauce in terms of quality. When you’re faced with a condiment this magnetic, though, the food it’s on can quickly become irrelevant.”  James admits that you can find hot sauce this powerful (citing the red stuff at the cart on 53rd & 6th) but “rarely this sophisticated.” [The Eaten Path]

It looks like Sahara Grill, the old Turkish take out place on 40th & 7th that closed in January, is being replaced by a branch of Maoz Vegetarian– the European falafel chain. Maoz has locations all over the world, including three in NYC, but this is their first in Midtown; and while I haven’t tried it yet, Serious Eats:New York called it the best falafel in Union Square. The positives: you get your choice of some tasty looking toppings (like eggplant, hard boiled egg, avocado, or feta) and they have Belgian fries (the chain started in Amsterdam).  The negatives: another small, individually owned Midtown Lunch place is being replaced by a chain.

I doubt it will supplant Olympic Pita (on 38th btw. 5+6th) as my favorite falafel in the area- but it does set up the inevitable Maoz vs. Crisp falafel chain showdown.  Crisp’s second location is opening just down the street at the end of the week (on 40th btw. 6+B’way).  No word yet on when Maoz will be opening.

My kid with The Carrot from Pump Energy Food (on Madison btw. 39+40th)

• According to Lunch’er Andrew, the “Woody Allen” at Carnegie Deli could easily be split into 8 sandwiches [Wined and Dined]
• There is a free Red Mango coupon in the latest issue of Time Out New York [The Feed Blog]
• The Rickshaw Dumpling Truck is hiring [Eat Me Daily]
• This ranking of NYC cupcakes inexplicably leaves off Crumbs (less surprising: Magnolia ended up mid-pack) [Grub Street]
• You can get a great mushroom and barley soup in the Dean and Deluca in the New York Times Building [BLD Project]
• A Mini guide to lunches in Midtown South [Eat to Blog]
• 9th Ave. is the best place to run into a cast member of Hair [Grub Street]
• Yvo hits up the Downtown branch of the Jiannetto’s Pizza Truck [Feisty Foodie]

If you like to eat, chances are you like to drink (read: a lot of you are freakin’ lushes), so I thought maybe it was time to introduce a happy hour column to the site. Every week, our Happy Hour Correspondent “Mamacita” will post about a different bar in Midtown that fits the Midtown Lunch mentality: unhealthy food, not lame (unless it’s lame in a cool way), and most importantly… cheap.

Faces & Names draws its moniker from the many oil paint caricatures of various famous folks that adorn the walls. While amusing enough, beyond the décor what you have is basically your usual Midtown lounge. As you enter there’s a large bar that sits in a square at the center. There’s plenty of bartenders and beer taps on either side offering your usual favorites of Guinness, Yuengling, Bass, Sam Adams, Stella and Sierra Nevada to name a few. The full range of cocktails is available and this is definitely a place where you can order a fancy girl drink and not get a sideways glance.

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Yesterday I made it back to that Halal cart on 53rd & Park that is now serving tacos and burritos (not to be confused with the new El Rey del Sabor cart on 49th btw. Lex+3rd).  The cart has been around for a few months, but they only started serving the Mexican food a month ago.  I tried the $3 chicken burrito with everything (rice, beans, lettuce, tomato, sour cream, jalapenos) as recommended by Lunch’er “Alan”, and was pleasantly surprised with how tasty it was.

The innards are after the jump…

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